COTABATO CITY — Poverty may push Moro women to commit crimes considered terrorist acts under the new Human Security Act, according to women leaders attending a forum here.
“A hungry mother or one who’s bothered by a hospitalized or unfed child will do anything when comes her way a favor from anybody who will want her to commit a crime, though against her will,” Sandra Basar of the Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry told reporters.
“It’s like what they call kapit sa patalim (clutching at straws),” she said.
Basar’s warning came in the wake of police reports that terrorists belonging to the Jemaah Islamiyah are recruiting women and children for bombing missions in Central Mindanao.
Basar was among 300 people, mostly members of 15 women’s rights groups, who participated in the three-day forum dubbed “Poverty Reduction: Women, We mean Business.”
The groups should constantly watch over the possibility that women, too, could become terrorists themselves, she said.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney, one of the guests, underscored the important role that women played as mothers, citizens and leaders in attaining a secure and more stable society.
Such society stands firmly against all forms of security and economic threats, she said.
To address poverty, Kenney said, women must have sustained “community involvement into entrepreneurship and in bridging peace.”
“Women entrepreneurs, women in peace process need to get going,” she said.
Another forum
That poverty could have its human twist in the commission of terror was brought up in another forum held here Wednesday and participated in by women members of media.
Bianca Miglioretto, a Swiss radio and alternative media officer of the women’s group Isis International, said that women were involved in suicide bombings in Palestine and the other war-torn regions she had visited.
These suicide bombers were hailed as “heroines” and were driven into doing it by “a thirst for recognition,” Miglioretto said.
New JI strategy
Supt. Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police director, told reporters in Koronadal City that JI operatives were particularly recruiting in poverty-stricken areas surrounding the Liguasan Marsh.
“This is part of their new strategy,” he said.
The Liguasan Marsh, a swampland bounded by the provinces of North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, is also home to the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Kiunisala said authorities had tightened security anew in the area because of the JI activity.
Last month, a car bomb was recovered along a busy street in Koronadal City in South Cotabato province. An earlier series of explosions killed nearly a dozen people in some parts of Central Mindanao.
‘Princess of Love’
Sandra Sema, a UNESCO representative, conferred on Kenney the honorary traditional title of Bai Pinadtaya na Kutawato (Cotabato’s Princess of Love).
“I’m honored with such recognition. Cotabato is a great place. Let’s work together for peace to reign here. The minute we have peace, we can tell others to come and invest here,” Kenney said.
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